


The Call

by EmberCartwright



Series: Tyzula Things [48]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Fluff, Girlfriends - Freeform, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Protective Azula (Avatar), Soft Azula (Avatar), somehow ozai is still terrible from prison, tyzula - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27965540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberCartwright/pseuds/EmberCartwright
Summary: Azula is summoned out of her class because Ty Lee is crying in the school bathroom and no one knows why.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Tyzula Things [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019697
Comments: 5
Kudos: 155





	The Call

Toph burst into Azula’s physics class, causing all the students and the teacher to look up at her. 

“Hey Princess,” she said loudly, startling Azula when she realized that she was being addressed. 

“Why are you here Beifong,” Azula asked, blushing at the nickname.

“What’s going on here,” the teacher said, looking back and forth between Toph and Azula. “You need to go back to class.” 

Toph ignored her. 

“The acrobat is crying on the floor of the bathroom upstairs,” Toph said. 

Azula raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, fighting the effects of public embarrassment. 

She was grateful for the fact that Toph at least had the common sense not to use Ty Lee’s name or refer to her as Azula’s girlfriend. 

Not that everyone in the class didn’t know about them already. It just felt more private when it wasn’t discussed aloud. 

“What do you want me to do about that? If she wanted me to know she would have texted me,” Azula said. 

Toph shrugged. 

“She won’t let anyone near her, she’s asking about you, and it’s causing a scene,” she said.

“You’re causing a scene. I will ask you once more to leave,” the teacher said louder. 

“Just wanted to let you know,” Toph said before leaving the room and letting the door slam behind her. 

The entire class turned to look at Azula, including the teacher. 

“Are you staying or going,” the teacher asked. 

Azula chewed on her lip but stayed in her seat. 

“Alright then, let us return to what we were doing then,” the teacher said. 

Azula flipped her phone over and saw zero new messages. She tapped her foot and weighed her options. 

After a few moments of deliberation she stood abruptly, walked briskly towards the door and brushed out of the room. 

Quickly, she made her way upstairs to the bathroom in question. As she approached she saw a large herd of girls and a lot of noises. 

Cooing noises, comforting noises, and crying noises. 

She stood behind the crowd and tried to see what was going on. 

A clump of girls was huddled over a figure on the floor. A figure that Azula assumed to be Ty Lee. 

The sound of her girlfriend’s cries hurt Azula to hear, more than she would care to admit, and she decided to take action. 

“Can I get through,” she asked loudly.

The herd turned towards her and noticing who it was, they parted respectfully allowing her to approach the girl on the ground. 

She was sitting directly on the tile with her face in her hands, her body shaking.

“Ty,” she said, standing over her. “Why are you on the bathroom floor,” she asked, sternly. 

Ty Lee looked up and blinked. 

“Hi ‘Zula,” she hiccuped. 

“Hello,” she said, unamused. 

“You found me,” she whispered.

“Beifong barged into my physics class. It was quite a spectacle,” Azula said. 

“I’m sorry,” Ty Lee said. “I know you don’t like having attention drawn to you like that,” she said, burying her head in her hands again. 

Azula sighed and squatted down, carefully avoiding letting herself touch the dirty floor. 

“It’s not that part that I’m most upset about,” she said softly. 

“Why didn’t you text me,” she asked, passing her hand over the top of Ty Lee’s head. “I would have come right away, you know that.”

“I didn’t want to inconvenience you and I guess I wasn’t thinking about how this would get back to you anyway,” came the muffled response. 

“Please look at me when you’re talking to me. You’re a person not a husk with a disembodied voice,” Azula instructed. 

Ty Lee picked her head back up. 

Azula inched towards her and wiped the tears off of her face gently. 

“Aw,” came the sound from behind her. 

Azula whipped around and remembered the audience.

“Why are all of you still here,” she snapped. “It’s the middle of the school day!”

Quickly the gaggle of girls scurried off in every direction. 

Now, in relative privacy, Azula gently put her hands on Ty Lee’s shoulders. 

“Can you stand up for me,” she whispered. 

Ty Lee shook her head. 

“Yes you can Ty,” Azula coaxed. 

Ty Lee shook her head again and tried to hide again.

“The floor is disgusting baby, please stand up,” Azula said. 

Ty Lee exhaled and finally allowed Azula to grasp her hands and lift her up. 

Immediately she crumpled into her girlfriend’s embrace and it was all Azula could do to hold her up. 

“I’m sorry,” Ty Lee whispered into Azula. “I’m sorry.”

Azula felt her girlfriend shaking in her arms. 

“Stop apologizing. What are you even apologizing for,” she asked, rubbing Ty Lee’s back soothingly. 

“I’m sorry that you had to leave physics. I’m sorry that I probably embarrassed you. I’m scared that the reason for all of this isn’t good enough to warrant the trouble,” she said, starting to sob again. 

“You don’t need to apologize for any of that,” Azula said. “We can discuss all of it later,” she said, kissing the top of Ty Lee’s head, pleased to feel her crying lighten. 

A pair of heels tapped along the floor outside the bathroom and an adult voice called in. 

“Is everything okay in there,” the woman called. 

“Pull it together for right now or the school will get involved and your parents are going to be called. I feel like we can handle it better without them, right,” Azula whispered into Ty Lee’s ear. 

She nodded and sniffed, standing herself upright and grabbing Azula’s hand tightly. 

The teacher entered the bathroom and saw Azula sitting on the radiator, holding Ty Lee’s left hand as she splashed cold water on her face with her right hand. 

“All good?” the woman asked.

“Oh yes,” Azula said with a smile, in her best adult pleasing tone. “You know how girls can be sometimes,” she said, with an apologetic shrug. 

The teacher nodded. 

Ty Lee turned off the tap and turned to face the teacher. Her face and eyes were red but she was no longer crying. 

“Sorry for causing a disturbance Miss,” she said. 

“As long as you’re fine now,” the woman said. She looked at her watch. “The two of you should hurry back to class.”

Azula nodded.

“We’ll go right away,” she said. 

Looking satisfied the teacher turned and left. 

Ty Lee looked like she could crumple again but Azula got up and grabbed her face in both hands. 

“Can you tell me what’s wrong,” Azula asked.

Ty Lee shook her head.

“Will you let me take you home,” Azula asked. 

Ty Lee nodded. 

“Okay, great. Let’s do that. We can figure everything out from there.”

“What about our stuff,” Ty Lee whispered. 

“Let’s go get it,” Azula said. “What class were you in?”

“Art,” Ty Lee said. “With Mai.”

Azula nodded and pulled out her phone. She sent a quick message to Mai asking her to pack up Ty Lee’s stuff. 

She also reluctantly sent one to her uncle. She hated to rely on him for anything but having an adult around was sometimes beneficial. Especially one that was willing to call you out of school with very little information supplied.

“Physics first,” she said, leaving the bathroom. 

Ty Lee screwed up her face again. 

“What happened,” Azula asked, turning. “We’re going home. Can’t you hold it together for ten minutes,” she said exasperated. 

“Will you hold my hand,” Ty Lee asked. 

“In school?”

“Please ‘Zula. I really need something to ground me,” she begged. 

Azula’s nostrils flared as she fought a vicious battle inside her head. Eventually getting over herself she grabbed Ty Lee’s hand tightly. 

“Good?”

Ty Lee nodded and allowed herself to be led out of the bathroom. 

They walked downstairs and stopped outside of Azula’s physics class.

“Can you wait right here for a minute. I’ll be in and out,” she promised.

“Can’t I go with you,” Ty Lee whined. 

“I’m trying to be the world’s best girlfriend right now but you’re pushing my patience. You aren’t a child. I just need to grab my bag and I’ll be right back. It is more certainly not appropriate for you to follow me around like a baby turtle duck into a classroom with our peers and a teacher.”

Ty Lee swallowed. 

“You are being the world’s best girlfriend,” she said, dropping Azula’s hand. “I’m s-”

“Stop apologizing,” Azula said, brushing her thumb over Ty Lee’s ear. “Just wait here.” 

She patted Ty Lee’s shoulder and entered the classroom. 

Quick, decisive movements carried her to her desk. She ignored quizzical glances from her peers as she shoved her books and pens into her bag. 

Tossing it onto her shoulder she walked over to the teacher’s desk. 

“You were just called out,” her teacher said quietly. “Family emergency?”

Azula nodded. 

“Sorry for the disturbances today,” she said, bowing slightly. 

“It’s alright,” the teacher said. “See you Monday.”

Azula nodded again and left the room. 

Ty Lee was shifting from foot to foot outside. 

“Ready?” Azula asked.

Ty Lee nodded.

Grabbing her hand again, Azula held her head high and marched across the school, towing her girlfriend behind her.

They made it to Ty Lee’s art class without hearing any comments but with significant staring. 

Azula blushed each time she noticed someone gawking at the most intimidating girl in the school holding her girlfriend’s hand, but keeping Ty Lee composed was the most important thing to her right now. 

“Go get your stuff,” Azula said, indicating at the door to the art room. 

“Can you get it,” Ty Lee asked. 

“It’s not my class.”

“There are seven kids in advanced art, most of which are our friends,” Ty Lee said.

“I have an idea,” Azula said. She pulled out her phone and texted Mai again. 

A few moments passed and the gloomy girl came to the door with Ty Lee’s bag. 

“Are you okay,” she asked, pressing Ty Lee’s hand. 

The girl shook her head. 

Mai looked at Azula. 

Isn’t this a little dramatic, her eyes seemed to ask. 

Azula shrugged.

With her long manicured nails, Mai picked some fluff off of Ty Lee’s shirt and smoothed her hand over her shoulder. 

“Feel better, okay,” she said. “Text me later?”

Ty Lee nodded and hugged her quickly. Then she grabbed Azula’s hand and they left the building towards the parking lot. 

They threw their stuff in the back of the convertible and got in the front. 

“Music?” Azula asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.

“Not in the mood,” Ty Lee said.

“Agni Ty, what happened,” Azula asked. 

Ty Lee just shook her head as her eyes teared up again. 

“Shh, don’t cry,” Azula said, putting her hand onto Ty Lee’s thigh and squeezing it comfortingly. “It’s going to be okay. Whatever it is I’m sure we can fix it.”

“Promise,” Ty Lee asked. 

Azula looked at her and knit her brows together. 

“I promise I will do my best,” she said.

Ty Lee took Azula’s hand in both of hers and just sat holding it the entire way to Azula’s house. 

When they got there Ty Lee looked around frantically before getting out of the car. 

“Are you expecting someone to jump out at us, because that is what it seems like,” Azula said, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend’s waist and leading her into the house.

When they got inside Ty Lee locked the door right away. 

Walking right past Azula, Ty Lee went up the stairs and into Azula’s room. Her girlfriend trailed behind her confused. 

Ty Lee took off her school clothes, donned the pajamas she kept in one of her dedicated drawers and crawled into Azula’s bed, pushing her head under the covers. 

Azula followed suit and found herself nose to nose with her girlfriend under the blanket. 

“Can you tell me what’s going on now,” she asked, wrapping her arms around Ty Lee’s back and pulling her close.

She could feel Ty Lee’s heart racing but she wasn’t crying anymore, which was a good sign. 

“I got a call,” Ty Lee whispered. 

“A call?”

She nodded. 

“Who called you,” Azula asked. 

“It said hold for an incoming message from the Boiling Rock Prison,” Ty Lee started. 

Azula stiffened. 

“I thought I told you if you ever got that call you should hang up and block the number,” she said slowly. 

“I did do that, the first time. Then I got messages from a bunch of different numbers so I decided the next time I would give him a piece of my mind,” Ty Lee said with a trembling voice.

Azula pursed her lips and exhaled. 

“Did you,” Azula asked. “Did you give him a piece of your mind?”

Ty Lee shook her head and started crying again. 

“H-he was terrifying. H-he said he was going to kill m-me and he was going to k-kill you and he was always w-watching us and t-that he knew where I was right then and that we would n-never be safe as long as he was alive.”

Azula clenched her jaw in anger and Ty Lee looked away from her. 

“I’m sorry I picked up even though you told me not to,” she said. 

Realizing Ty Lee must think that her anger was directed towards her Azula softened her expression immediately. 

She pulled the acrobat into a tight hug and pressed several rapid kisses to her forehead. 

“Oh no baby, I’m not mad at you,” she said as Ty Lee brought her arms to wrap behind Azula. “I would never be mad at you for doing something, even if I advised against it. You are your own person and you can make your own choices.”

“What I’m mad about is my father. Where in Agni did he get your number,” she said, raising her voice. “How dare he harass you. As if it wasn’t enough to bother me and Zuzu.”

“Was he telling the truth? Are we being watched,” Ty Lee asked, tears running down her face.

“Listen to me Ty,” Azula said, drawing Ty Lee back to arms length so she could look into her eyes. “I will never, ever let him get anywhere near you. I will keep you safe, I promise.”

“Let’s take some deep breaths,” Azula encouraged.

Ty Lee nodded and calmed her breathing down to a normal rate.

“I trust you,” Ty Lee said, pulling Azula in so that they were tangled in each other under the covers.

“You can also protect yourself you know,” Azula pointed out, unbraiding Ty Lee’s hair with one hand. “Threats and fear mongering are one thing but when push comes to shove you can beat up ten grown men, even if they’re benders.”

“That’s true,” Ty Lee said with a sigh as Azula gently massaged her skull. She didn’t even realize she’d had a headache until Azula ushered it away with her nimble fingers. 

“The first thing we can do, though, is get you a new phone number, if you want,” Azula suggested. 

Ty Lee nodded.

“Not right now,” she said. 

“Not right now,” Azula agreed, kissing Ty Lee’s head again.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't mean to make Ty Lee seem weak in anyway (sis can def take care of herself) but I just feel like she has such strong empathy that things like this would set her off, leaving Azula to reluctantly (not that reluctantly) fill the role of the comforter.


End file.
